Thursday, 24 May 2012

Ivan Crivallero The Shoe Artist

I have been quite for some time, profound apologies for that. Lots of work and no play made me a dull boy. Yes, end of story. I came across Ivan Crivallero by mistake, I was looking for somethings else, when all of a sudden this champion, artist, bespoke shoe maker appears from no where.
Ivan, an Italian bespoke shoemaker, artist, has taken the shoe sole painting to dimensions I have never seen before. How often do we look at the sole? Unless someone is sitting down. I will start looking at the shoe soles from now on...thanks to Mr. Ivan.


Ivan at work

Balmoral brown oxford, with a medallion.....but the sole (soul) Dali himself.....that is 
the sole work.

The above shoe's design, from a birds view of the left shoe
A shoe from a perspective, hmmm.....
The artistic approach of making the gloss on a tassel loafer
Another sole (soul) in an artistic translation. Nice Tan loafer

A painting by itself of the sole, above
Below, another rendition of a sole, not to easily to spot, but does look good
 For a Gent who loves an Aston Martin, then your shoe soles should reflect that. Sounds like new money? Hmmm... not sure. Old money will never go to this length.
Art Deco styled soles
 Inspiration from Japan
 Tartan soled shoes

All photos sourced from the Internet....

Friday, 4 May 2012

Crockett & Jones - The Clifford Full brogue (patina)

I have been keeping an eye on the Crockett and Jones, Clifford full brogue oxford in tan colour for years. Living in the Nordic where sunshine is available for about three to four months, I did not know what to do do with a tan coloured shoe.  In the mean time bought a full brogue on the 337 last from W. S Foster in antique chestnut, a shoe that makes people look twice due to the shine.

Last week I took four pair of shoes to my local cobbler, who sells mainly Crockett & Jones, when viewing my shoes he asked if I brought them in to show off (the shine, gloss). Our conversation ended up with me borrowing a pair of Crockett & Jones, Clifford hand-grade (full brogues) in tan, to take home and play with, meaning making a "patina". 

I realised when working on the colour & patina, that if I were to bespeak a pair of Summer shoes for the Nordic, would rather go for tan colour and then work on that to get the correct colour/patina that will compliment the Summer and SPring of the Nordic. Note that it was the first time I tried this very formidable and demanding art of patina, and during the process I realised how much it craves from one. My respect to all the Masters of patina around the world.

Below my (left) W.S. Forster, full brogue oxford (Thornham), antique chestnut, built on the 337 Last. On the right also a W. S. Foster punched cap toe (Westbury), built on 337 last, antique chestnut. Now for those of you who do not know the Crockett & Jones handgrade models the (The Clifford) is the equivalence of W. S. Forster Ready To Wear (Thornham) and the Crockett & Jones, handgrade Belgrave model equavalence to W. S. Foster, Westbury. In short, the shoes are the same(?) but from different shoe makers.
Below lots of black polish applied, outcome not so great.
 Close up on the cap toe of the W. S. Foster, Thornham, full brogue.
Westbury(below) after undergoing a polish after polish & getting the job done right, can be seen it's lighter than above. The colour is almost correct in my humble opinion.
Mirror polishing, can you see me taking pictures on the below??
Above shoes have went through a number of different stages of shinning, and finally I did get the right shoe colouring, which can be seen here on the W. S. Forster (Westbury). The same has been achieved on the Thornham.

Now comes the Clifford, Hangrade from Crockett & Jones in the original colour tan, and me working it out to get the colour that fits the Nordic, Summer climate and Sun and atmosphere....... the outcome can be seen below in different stages.

After a few polishing, shoe on the left, was kept with original colouring (Tan). Shoe on the right, did get a bit of black, burgundy and something else.
Worked on it some days and I got this:
May look identical, but it's not, worked on both shoes, to bring the medallion, stitching, brogeuing etc out. End of the day decided that shoe on the right needed bit of colour and end result is the below before handing over to Rolf Hansson Skomakari for a Master review.

Well, will be presenting these to Michael, Bjorn (Rolf's sons) on the 05 May 2012, not sure Big Kahuna (Rolf their father) will be there, so I am a bit itchy. So here you have my humble rendition of "Tan Shoes for the Nordic".

Will present the results tomorrow after audtiition.....Keep fingers .....

Thanks to the Gents and shoe lovers at Rolf Hansson Skomakari (Malmoe, Sweden) for borrowing the shoes (Crockett and Jones, Clifford (Handgrade) in tan out to me a Shoe Scoundrel, to mess up with.

All pictures are sourced from me.

Younger Scandinavian Royal Gents should dress elegantly

I was looking at pictures of the younger generation of males from the Scandinavian Royal houses, and I have to admit that these Gentlemen are dressed inelegantly, unstylish, and that is not flattering at all. 
Most if not all, tend to show signs of lack of adequate lessons on men classical dress code and style. Very surprising, as these honourable gents are of "Blue Blood" origin. 

I was rather surprised, the pictures show that all these gents wear their trousers at the wrong length, meaning, all piled up like discarded potato sacks on top of their shoes, hanging down from their hips, instead of the natural human waist, thereby visually shortening their legs. 
Not to mention the shirt exposure, due to the lack of cummerbund or waistcoat usage, when wearing dinner jackets or single breasted suits. 
In some pictures below, I noted an oversized jacket, skinny jacket, not worthy for a true royal. Furthermore the jackets have the incorrect length (very long suit jackets sleeves and jacket length).

Below, HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden seem not to have paid much attention to the details when attending lessons on the black tie etiquette.
The Prince has at least violated the waist covering part of the black tie dress code, as he is wearing a single breasted dinner jacket, tradition dictates and requires that a cummerbund or black low cut waistcoat is used. We can see the shirt peeping out. Ouch!
The Prince opted for a fly front shirt instead of a shirt with stud eyelets. Hmmm......
The length of trousers is rather to long, thereby sacking and piling up, an alteration by any tailor (need not be one with a Royal Warrant) would have done wonders.


Below an illustration of correct black tie dressing etiquette/code by the well known and reputable illustrator of men's classical & stylish clothing, Laurence Fellows.
The standing gent below in black tie formal dressing, white shirt with studs, trousers at the normal human waist, the dinner jacket is fully complemented with a waistcoat. The waistcoat serves a purpose of not showing the shirt. The trouser length falls just above the heels of the pumps he is wearing. 
HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden, should have reviewed and studied these illustrations and may have a learned a thing or two before venturing out looking like above.
When comparing the illustration by Mr. Felllows and the photo of HRH Prince Daniel, the discrepancy can be noted with the naked eye.

Below, HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden's trousers are a bit long and not breaking where they should. The trousers look like they were taken off the rack, very unfortunate. Maybe HRH Prince Daniel follows the unfortunate trend and fashion so many young men often do today, wearing their trousers at the hips instead of the natural waist. A messy trend with undesirable results for a "Blue Blooded" Gent.
Do not follow fashion Sir.

Overall look, not very complimentary, stylish or elegant.
Below photo depicts HRH Prince Daniel on an official visit to the USA. The Prince seems he is wearing a bespoke suit, as the cuffs of the jacket are working cuffs, however the Prince violates a sartorial rule, which is: "do not leave any cuff button on the jacket sleeve un-cuffed", that is bad taste.  No need to show off. 
HRH Prince Daniel seems to have done some adjustments to the trousers, but not very successful.
Below, an illustration by Mr. L. Fellow, showing a man, well dressed, well draped trousers, a well fitted jacket and a waistcoat. Accessories, gloves, walking cane and a hat. 
Below the Royal Crown Prince of Norway in the company of Princess Mary of Denmark.
The Norwegian Crown Prince is wearing a casual outfit for an evening party. But those trousers, the length and the width. Not very graceful unless following the late sixties and seventies fashion. Not very classy nor elegant.
Below, the Danish Royals, (HRH Crown Prince Frederik & HRH Prince Joakim) accompanied by their spouses.
HRH Prince Joakim (right) trousers are way too long and  and hanging and piling up like a thrown out sack of sweet potatoes on the shoes. HRH Crown Prince Frederik, shows a rather tight/skinny jacket, exposing the shirt and his trousers is also hanging from the hip, thereby exposure of the shirt. A missing a pocket square. 

In short, it does not cost any more to dress correctly and elegantly than it does to do it badly and without class and style.
HRH Prince Joakim of Denmark (third from right), the look is .....No comments
A Burberry advert drawing from the 1930's. So masculine, tasteful and elegant.
I wish all the above mentioned Royal Highnesses of Scandinavia had taken a look at the three illustrations of mens style and elegant dressing, then it would have helped them to achieve a better and elegant dress look, worth admiration from loyal subjects like myself.

Today there is so much sartorial splendour readily accessible, and yet all these honourable Gentlemen, chose to look their worst. There are a few contemporary examples of men's elegant dressing on the Internet, for example "A Suitable Wardrobe" or "The Gentleman's Gazette"who would have given appropriate guide and consultation to get the correct elements of tasteful masculine dress, to achieve that timeless, elegant, and stylish look.


Pictures sourced from the various Nordic Press and the Internet.